Insulating and building materials which contain expanded polystyrene beads or granules bonded together by means of a polymeric binder are known. It has been observed, however, that conventional insulating materials of this type suffer one or more disadvantages when employed to produce a fire resistant and/or flame retardant coating. More particularly it has been found that the resulting coatings lack structural integrity when exposed to heat or flame and often lack sufficient fire retardant characteristics unless specific known fire retardants are added thereto.